What Fuels The Words

I've been talking the past few weeks about driving forward, about the endurance, doing the hard work. That's really the only way books get written.  So then when the next question comes and it's, "So what drives you to do it?", I have a hard time answering.  Because, to me, it's almost like "why are you breathing oxygen?"

In the latest episode of Westworld-- without giving serious spoilers, when confronted with why he's done the things he's done, he answers, "I just wanted to tell my stories".  I feel very much the same way.  I know the stories I want to tell, I'm never plagued by writers' block, at least on a macro level.  (On a micro level, I sometimes don't know how a scene is supposed to work, and that's frustrating.  Sometimes a project isn't quite coming together and gets put to the side... but there's always more projects in the works.)   

Of course, right now I'm in a position of privilege.  I'm writing books that are already under contract-- doing work that I know where it's going to go.  Back when I was writing books without an agent or a publisher?  There I was fueled just by the fire in my gut-- that I had to tell the stories of Maradaine, and get it out there in the world.  Someone once told me that writing novels was a thing you only did if you can't imagine not doing it. I think that's about right.  And I'm still not satisfied.  Each novel, I'm hungry for.  

And I bet you are as well.  So get down to those word mines, and get to work.  No one else is going to do it for you.

Keeping the Wheel Turning

While I don't get very political here, I've not made a secret that my lean is liberal.  So it's no surprise that I've been none too thrilled with things over the past few days.

But that doesn't change the fact that I've got work to do.  I can't let any sort of, "things are horrible" stop me.  Because, when you come down to it, writing novels is an act of endurance.  I'm not saying you have to do words every day or you're a failure (and I loathe that sort of purity test thinking) but the work doesn't get done unless you keep coming back to it.

And the work needs to get done.  If I'd ascribe any sort of "this is what makes you a writer" test, it's that for you, the work needs to get done.  That you feel it deep in your marrow.  You feel that you have to do it or you just won't live.

That doesn't mean you don't get stuck, that you don't let the work simmer and percolate.  That doesn't mean it doesn't take a long time. The work takes what it takes.  But you have to keep coming back to it.  You keep the wheel turning.

So, I feel like I've been rather heavy this whole entry, so some levity.  If you've read some of the interviews I've done for Import of Intrigue, you've probably seen that I answer the "how do you keep in all straight?" question with "spreadsheets and timelines".  Re-reading one of those made me think about the timing of events in my grander scheme, so I went to check it in the timeline, to see when it needed to happen.   And I realized it had to happen in the middle of Lady Henterman's Wardrobe.  So, I needed to integrate it into the plot of that book.  As I looked over how I needed to do that, I realized, "If I put it here, amid this major sequence, it actually makes that main plot aspect work better."

So I'm glad I double-checked that.

Right now the wheel turning means Import of Intrigue is out there and on top.  I've been pretty pleased with the reception it's gotten, especially this review from Bibliotropic, which I feel really nails what I was going for with this book.  

All right, all of you: back in the word mines.  You've got work to do.

Knocked Down and Back Up

It seems almost inappropriate to me to talk about things like process and business of writing and writing careers right now.  It feels... well, describing how I feel would probably devolve into a rant of inarticulate swearing.  So when I look at the topic of the week to be "what does success mean to you and how do you define it?", I'm not even sure what I could say about that right now.

But then I also think that art and craft matter.  Especially when things seem bleakest.  Fundamentally my job is to help you, the audience, slip your brain to somewhere else for a little while.  That I can make someone's day a bit brighter, a bit easier... that means so much to me.  I recently heard from a fan who had to spend all day in a hospital waiting room while their daughter had a battery of tests, and they were grateful to have one of my books with them to get through the day.

I take those little scraps of joy every chance that I can, because at the core, that's what it's all about.  This business-- just like everything else in this world-- can grind you down so hard.  It will crack you across the face and not even have the decency to watch you fall down. 

Succeeding, to me, is finding the strength to stand up again, bloody and battered, and giving the world a tiny smirk and asking, "That all you got?"  

And that's what I'm gonna keep doing.

Four Books In, And I Am Still Learning

Folks, I'm not going to lie to you: I am far from figuring out this whole writers' life business.  Each book is a new mystery, and new experience, and each time you wonder, "Is this the book that I level up with?"  Do I even know what "leveling up" means in this context?  

The book comes out, and you make some of the various lists of "books to look for this month" (or words to that effect), and look: Lists!  Barnes & Noble!  Geekspeak! Nerdmuch! Tor.com!  And you realize how just getting on those curated lists are a huge victory. 

It's never instant success, and that's fine.  On some level, I relish that it isn't, because it keeps me hungry.  It's part of why I'm creating this beast of four different series in Maradaine, where all the storylines build to a greater whole.  It's part of why I'm going at this pace.  I mean: I just had a book come out, and a year from now, I'll have two more out.  

We just released An Import of Intrigue, and The Holver Alley Crew is just a few months away.  I feel very conflicted, in that it seems too soon to really be talking about it, with Import barely out of the shipping boxes, but also that I need to be talking it up as well.  I mean, we're going to have the cover reveal pretty soon.  It's pretty cool, I think you'll like it.  It really captures the...

See, I'm already ready to talk about it.

I'm constantly feeling like I could do more. Do I need to do more?  I don't just mean more books, I mean keep pushing beyond the pace I've set.  I have an agenda, I can tell you that.  At my current pace, if I'm able and permitted to maintain it, I'll have what I consider "Phase I" of the Maradaine books out by 2020.  But I've also got other stuff stewing in the crockpot.  I've got a few novella-length works planned beyond the city of Maradaine, and a novel set in another city of that world is starting to germinate in my brain.  Plus there's a space opera novel that I keep coming back to.  And I think my short story Jump the Black could be the seed of a novel. And...

I'm saying I'm not lacking for ideas to keep me busy.  I just need to figure out how to increase my volume without sacrificing quality or burning myself out.  Because, honestly, I am so damn happy that I get to do this.

All right, one more thing: a teasing banner for The Holver Alley Crew.  Because we will be talking more about it soon.

Perils of the Writer: Serving As A Warning

Happy November!  Some of you out there are doing NaNoWriMo things, and while I don't advocate it as a great way to write a novel, I do think it's an excellent way to learn about how you write a novel.  You learn your methods, and you make your mistakes.  

Here's the simple truth when it comes to a writing career: you're going to mess up.  You're going to point to the fences, swing with everything you've got, and knock yourself in the face.  And that's excellent.

 Make your mistakes.  Love them and learn from them.  And watch other people, because they will make mistakes you can learn from as well.

And that's a great thing.  It really is.  Mistakes are how we get better.  Mistakes come from taking chances.  

This includes the, "This might get me in trouble" or "This might upset some people" kind of mistakes.  Those are sometimes the best ones to make-- as long as when you look back you ask yourself, honestly, "Now, how can I do it better?"  Every book I've written is full of things I can do better, things my readers ping me with, and things I learn from.

This business WILL knock you down.  Get up, dust yourself off, and get back in it.  Hopefully smarter.

See you down in the word mines.

AN IMPORT OF INTRIGUE RELEASE WEEK

Folks, we're here.  An Import of Intrigue comes out tomorrow.  I'm so excited because this is a book I'm really proud of.  (Of course, I'm proud of all the books.  You don't pick amongst your children.)

Fortunately, I'm not alone in my love for this book:

An Import of Intrigue is a book worth reading, and part of a world worth exploring. It’s complex, intriguing, and spellbinding.  -- Kings River Life

One thing I can say with certainty is Maresca never disappoints and I can always expect a unique, fun and engaging fantasy adventure full of magic and mayhem! - Short and Sweet Reviews

So what can more can I say?  Great reviews, great cover, and a perfect time to jump onto the Maradaine books, since you now can get all four:

• The Thorn of Dentonhill
• A Murder of Mages
• The Alchemy of Chaos
• An Import of Intrigue

Also, this will mark the last time that "release order" and "in-world chronological order" will stay the same.  All the more reason to buy all four, if you haven't yet.

In all seriousness, I'm really overwhelmed and overjoyed.

And now... back to work.  More books to come.

Perils of the Writer: Gearing Up To Start A Novel

Some of you out there might be planning to participate in NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month.  Good on you.  It isn't something for me, in part because the pace demanded doesn't match my ideal writing pace, and in part because, for me, every month is Novel Writing Month.  My current schedule, my current system... it really doesn't allow me much breathing room between projects.  

I've compared writing a novel to running a marathon, but that's not right.  It's going on an expedition.  You're going to trek out there and do some serious Lewis and Clark level stuff to get from staring at a blank page to "Hey, I wrote a book!"  And if you were to cross to the Pacific or climb Everest or reach the south pole, you wouldn't just strap your shoes on and start walking and find out what happens.

No, you're going to do some prep work.  You're going to get yourself supplied.  What does that look like for this expedition?

Here's my checklist:

• Worldbuilding:  At this point, for all the Maradaine books, this is more or less done, but each book will probably have some additional element to investigate or deepen.  In An Import of Intrigue, that meant figuring out the street-level of The Little East in finer detail.  
• Outlines, Spreadsheets and Timetables: With three (or four) interconnected series in the same city, there's a lot of moving parts, and a lot of keeping track of what happens when, and how that has repercussions elsewhere.  My outlines have a structure that have served me well, and in addition to writing on Scrivener, I've been playing with Scapple (from the fine people who made Scrivener) and Aeon Timeline.  Both fine programs I recommend for free-form thinking and laying out timelines, respectively.
• Character Work: Every book, at the outset, has a Dramatis Personae, and this file gets updated over the course of the work, as new characters show up who weren't intended in the original outline.  Sometimes minor, and those minor characters blow up as the series progress.  Also part of my process is getting myself a visual reference for the character in my head.  So I create a facepage of the main characters, digging through actor headshots (here's a good source) to find people who look like the characters I imagine.
• Playlist: I don't do too much of this, but I do try to find some music that fits the mood of the book I'm about to write.

All this reminds me, I've got to get moving on finalizing the prep work for A Parliament of Bodies in the near future.  And you've probably got some work to do, also.  Get on that.